Great work everyone, the end is near

[DaveLegg Developer]

Just a quick reminder, if one of us does win (and we all hope someone from here does):

If you do decide to ask them to engrave Neowin onto the chip, PLEASE remember to put UnFiction in there too, without them and their contributions we wouldn't have got anywhere near as far along the track as we have.

As the end draws near, I'd like to thank everyone who has taken part, and congratulate them on a job very well done. It's been great seeing the community pull together to work on the challenges, along with new members who joined just for the puzzle, and we hope the newcomers stick around once the game is over.

At times it's been hard to keep up with the speed everyone's working at, I've woken up to find literally hundreds of posts with new information and theories, and spent hours reading through them all.

A final thank you to everyone from Neowin and UnFiction who have made this such an enjoyable event to be a part of.

Best of luck in the prize draw!!!

[crimsonhead]

How bout inscribing Intel on em :p

[DaveLegg Developer]

How bout inscribing Intel on em :p

Obviously what you have put on is up to you, assuming they even let you have anything other than your name, but there was a lot of talk of having Neowin written on, and I want to ensure that the invaluable contributions from UnFiction are also recognized, and not forgotten.

[wjaspers]

i'm all for having the neowin.net and unfiction insignia and url inscribed if i were to win it.

i don't really like the idea of having my name on something 'anyone' can see.

i wonder, can amd even do that?

[freon]

i'm all for having the neowin.net and unfiction insignia and url inscribed if i were to win it.

i don't really like the idea of having my name on something 'anyone' can see.

i wonder, can amd even do that?

yes, look here for a wide variety of lithograph figures added to microprocessor dies:

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/creatures/index.html

[Scrooball]

As the end draws near, I'd like to thank everyone who has taken part, and congratulate them on a job very well done. It's been great seeing the community pull together to work on the challenges, along with new members who joined just for the puzzle, and we hope the newcomers stick around once the game is over.

Hear, hear!! I agree wholeheartedly. Without having found this forum, I'm absolutely certain I would never have solved all of the puzzles. I did manage most on my own, but when I got stuck, this community proved most invaluable! I sincerely appreciate the time and effort everyone put into this whole thing - especially whoever it was who started and maintained the wiki page! I am glad to have been a part of it, and I do intend to try to stick around because there were some other forums that caught my attention on my way to this one. Those of you who don't make it back in here after all is said and done - it's been a hoot! I'm glad to have met you!

Best of luck in the prize drawing and beyond! Who knows - maybe there'll be a trend of these type of puzzles / sweepstakes in the future!

Thanks again, Neowin, UnFiction, and everyone!!

-Mike

[Orph]

I believe AMD would have safeguards to prevent people putting anything they like on the CPU's. I think it will have to be your name etc, otherwise people could put swear words or anything on the chips.

One way I have thought of getting around this is by legally changing your name to something like "Intel RuleZ" that way you are getting your legal name ingraved :whistle:

On another note, I would like to say I have enjoyed being part of the Neowin team and if the vanishingpointgame.com website is anything to go by then I look forward to catching up again for the next vanishingpoint game. I might even stick around on the forums here and every now & again my name might be seen on a post somewhere. It's been a blast and now it's time for me to dissappear RIGHT, DOWN into my own vanishing point....for the time being anyway...

Regards,

Orpheus

[The Toadster]

Check the main page http://vanishingpointgame.com

lokifinal.bmp

It looks like we can finally stop. It's been fun, thanks guys. Now back to work!

[dickey500]

Act To Spin Sheep Lapel

Anagrams to--> I can't stop, please help.

[_eXile_]

Sounds like more Vanishing Point Games will follow in the future :D

[confusio]

Some final comments ?

First of all, Dave, Rob, and the rest of the Neowin.net folks, thanks so much for letting

us use this fantastic resource, I didn?t know neowin.net before the vanishing point game,

as you know I?ve spent a lot of time here and your site performed with an incredible

reliability, an easy to use and very friendly interface for all the tools.

I consider myself a winner because due the game I was able to find this corner on the net

with an amazing and brilliant community.

I?ve been dealing with the Internet since the early 80?s when the Domain Name System was

about to being tested and we used to get the /etc/hosts file via ftp !!, I?d have never imagined

this incredible level of cooperation around the world, I?m very impressed that there was no

need at all to have moderators in the different threads that were used during the game, I?ve

not seen any obscene or improper comments or conduct, it was a great example of how we

can use this technology to cooperate in a good manner.

So Thank You everybody for this wonderful experience.

Emale thanks for the music and your comments, your broadcast was excellent and the music

let me feel young again.

For the e42 folks, you pulled out an excellent game, I know how hard is to put all the pieces

together and that sometimes things don?t go as planned, technology fails and that is a

challenge to serve such a diverse community, sincerely my respect and admiration for a

job well done !!

It would be really nice if at sometime some of you folks provide some comments from your

side about this experience, here at neowin or some other place, things like how viral you think

the whole thing was, etc.

For the folks that participated in the forum here and at UnFiction, thanks for such a great

experience, you guys made me sweat, I had such a blast, now I can get up from this chair

and let my a$$ recover it?:rolleyes:al shape :rolleyes: .

I?ll stay around, and I?ll update my profile to reveal my real identity, what do I do, my

interests and I?ll be available to contribute and share my experience.

Sincerely

Jorge aka confusion

Cheers

PS. And I'll be ready for the next one !!!

[Rob Veteran]

It's been a pleasure to host almost certainly the largest discussion of this game, and I thank all the members who have contributed from Unfiction - between us, we gave the organisers of this a run for their money!

Do stick around, those of you that joined just for the competition - I hope you'll find Neowin a helpful and friendly community.

[wanderson75]

It's been a pleasure to host almost certainly the largest discussion of this game, and I thank all the members who have contributed from Unfiction - between us, we gave the organisers of this a run for their money!

Do stick around, those of you that joined just for the competition - I hope you'll find Neowin a helpful and friendly community.

Hear hear to that! You've definately made a neowinian out of me! ^_^

[DaveLegg Developer]

I think this quote just about sums things up. They won't underestimate us again :p

We created the Vanishing Point to reward the smartest minds (and communities) on the planet - and still we underestimated you. We used our smarts and our guile, not to mention money and connections and countless hours of time - and still you humbled us. We knew the terrain and barely gave you a map and that didn't stop you. We built puzzles that should have taken you days and you solved them in hours.

[The_Voice777]

Congratulations to everyone that played this game and KUDO'S to Neowin and Unfiction for the hard work and deication we all put in.

Received this e-mail from LOKI

From : LOKI <[email protected]> Sent : Wednesday, January 31, 2007 2:00 PM To : [email protected] Subject : Farewell

| | | Inbox

Congratulations on a game well played, and thank you for helping us disappear.

You were not the first to guess our identity, but because you played our game, we want to tell you our secret.

There is no such person as Loki - or rather, she is four sisters who decided to be one extraordinary person.

Each of us has a unique talent:

Lorelei is our tinkerer. Clocks and counting, space and time: she is our genius.

Odessa is our performer, our actress and magician, the girl we send in to dazzle and charm. Odessa goes to meetings: Loki gets promoted. It's very convenient.

Kara is our reader. With a love of history and a photographic memory, she gives us access to any fact, figure, or event at a moment's notice.

Ivy is our spy. She's the girl you dont notice, the face you don't remember, and vanishing is what she does best. Ivy has gotten us out of more than one impossible situation.

Together, we have presented L.O.K.I. to the world. Our mask and super-hero, LOKI has allowed us each to be bigger than ourselves.

When we heard Microsoft and AMD were looking to give extraordinary prizes to exceptional people, we knew LOKI could never find a more perfect job. This, Odessa said, would be a trick we could never top. O, how we wanted this job! (And what clever, unfair, underhanded things we did to the other applicants to make sure we got it! But that's another story.) And once we got the job, we all agreed that Loki's greatest triumph would be her last.

We created the Vanishing Point to reward the smartest minds (and communities) on the planet - and still we underestimated you. We used our smarts and our guile, not to mention money and connections and countless hours of time - and still you humbled us. We knew the terrain and barely gave you a mapand that didn't stop you. We built puzzles that should have taken you days and you solved them in hours.

"Loki" is a genius: but you were far more brilliant. You were thought made fire. You were lightning.

Thank you for your work, your talent, and your dedication. It has been a privilege to witness: an honor and a delight.

For each of us to live, Loki had to die. Thank you, thank you beyond words for taking her to the Vanishing Point.

Lorelei Odessa Kara Ivy

Further what I found strange is the box that used to bounce back the message "you found play etc" now replied one message saying that but also this posted below....Could it be another lead????? And who is AAron Coldiron? strange name!!!!

From : Aaron Coldiron <snip> Sent : Wednesday, January 31, 2007 2:44 PM To : jack bauer <[email protected]> Subject : Out of Office: Farewell

| | | Inbox

Thanks for your mail. I'm out of the office traveling for business 1/29 - 2/3 and will be slow to respond to email and voicemail. If your issue is urgent please call my cell phone at <snip>

Thanks,

Aaron Coldiron

Community | Windows <snip>

The_Voice777

[wanderson75]

Interesting...a keyword search on m$'s website has him as Aaron Coldiron, Manager of the Mindshare Program.

[The_Voice777]

Interesting...a keyword search on m$'s website has him as Aaron Coldiron, Manager of the Mindshare Program.

Called the numbers listed, got VM and left a message...Never leave any stone unturned huh?

Does anyone know of any other games coming up? I checked out http://www.argn.com/ and the few they have posted already began or all finished.

I wish you all luck in the drawing and will let you know if I receive any call.

The_Voice777

[amadecasa]

Interesting...a keyword search on m$'s website has him as Aaron Coldiron, Manager of the Mindshare Program.

Aaron Coldiron = dial or no acorn :rofl:

[The_Voice777]

This is too funny, I had to post it to show those who implement ARg's and promotions what not to do LMAO

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070131/ap_on_...picious_devices

[NateB1]

I also want to give a big thanks to all the talented puzzle solvers at Neowin and Unfiction. Without them, I would be stuck on puzzle 10.

Whoever won the meta puzzle, Congratulations!

I have this nagging feeling that the person who will win the Grand Prize will be one of those people who heard about the Vanishing Point, registered, and forgot about it. I sure hope it goes to a person who worked hard and contributed to these forums!

Good luck to everyone!

[SpaceJay987]

The_voice, you are a sneaky one.......

[thequestor]

Congratulations to everyone that played this game and KUDO'S to Neowin and Unfiction for the hard work and deication we all put in.

Received this e-mail from LOKI

From : LOKI <[email protected]> Sent : Wednesday, January 31, 2007 2:00 PM To : [email protected] Subject : Farewell

The_Voice777

I think it would be prudent to take out any personally identifiable information for Mr. Coldiron, since this falls far outside the scope of the game. Given a couple spiders this information will eventually end up on Google or Yahoo, and I am pretty sure Mr. Coldiron would be kind of upset.

[The_Voice777]

I think it would be prudent to take out any personally identifiable information for Mr. Coldiron, since this falls far outside the scope of the game. Given a couple spiders this information will eventually end up on Google or Yahoo, and I am pretty sure Mr. Coldiron would be kind of upset.

You may be right, You never know how anal some people may be. However, I think the time limit to edit it has expired as I am not finding an option to edit or remove the post anywhere. Perhaps an admin here could address this if need be.

The_Voice777

[Panacik]

Some final comments ?

First of all, Dave, Rob, and the rest of the Neowin.net folks, thanks so much for letting

us use this fantastic resource, I didn?t know neowin.net before the vanishing point game,

as you know I?ve spent a lot of time here and your site performed with an incredible

reliability, an easy to use and very friendly interface for all the tools.

I consider myself a winner because due the game I was able to find this corner on the net

with an amazing and brilliant community.

I?ve been dealing with the Internet since the early 80?s when the Domain Name System was

about to being tested and we used to get the /etc/hosts file via ftp !!, I?d have never imagined

this incredible level of cooperation around the world, I?m very impressed that there was no

need at all to have moderators in the different threads that were used during the game, I?ve

not seen any obscene or improper comments or conduct, it was a great example of how we

can use this technology to cooperate in a good manner.

So Thank You everybody for this wonderful experience.

Emale thanks for the music and your comments, your broadcast was excellent and the music

let me feel young again.

For the e42 folks, you pulled out an excellent game, I know how hard is to put all the pieces

together and that sometimes things don?t go as planned, technology fails and that is a

challenge to serve such a diverse community, sincerely my respect and admiration for a

job well done !!

It would be really nice if at sometime some of you folks provide some comments from your

side about this experience, here at neowin or some other place, things like how viral you think

the whole thing was, etc.

For the folks that participated in the forum here and at UnFiction, thanks for such a great

experience, you guys made me sweat, I had such a blast, now I can get up from this chair

and let my a$$ recover it?:rolleyes:al shape :rolleyes: .

I?ll stay around, and I?ll update my profile to reveal my real identity, what do I do, my

interests and I?ll be available to contribute and share my experience.

Sincerely

Jorge aka confusion

Cheers

PS. And I'll be ready for the next one !!!

Neowin is a great community. There are times where staff and members dont see eye to eye and some people leave because of this, but always return soon... Me included! :D

Hear hear to that! You've definately made a neowinian out of me! ^_^

I:Dsays so in your Avatar :D

[Karl Sheldon]

Well just to say thanks to Dave, and the rest of the Neowin Team, its been a real fun challenge on all fronts.

Every one here is great, helpful and understanding for the most part.

I look forward to many more fun challanges we can share.

Good luck to all and I hope we all get something nice.